Economy forecast not-so-rosy, experts say

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Economy forecast not-so-rosy, experts say

September 07, 2006

Mary E. O'Leary, Register Topics Editor

BERLIN, Conn. - The headline in the Connecticut Economy's quarterly review said it all: state's economy likely to slow to a crawl. With fewer than 2,000 seasonally adjusted jobs added to payrolls in the second quarter, that translates to a .5 percent annual advance.

"But Connecticut's economy won't be able to sustain even that feeble level of job growth unless the U.S. economy picks up some speed soon," the gloomy report by professors at the University of Connecticut said.

The analysis, released Wednesday, found however that all is not lost, that the state can continue to maintain its quality of life by enhancing education and access to transportation.

Professor Steven Lanza wrote that an increase in business incentives, such as tax breaks and grants, actually correlates with a decrease in gross state product.

The best indicator of economic development is education spending with $13 in added per capita output for every $1 spent. Lanza said Connecticut has to invest in closing the educational achievement gap between whites and minorities and its unequal distribution of personal income.

Professor Arthur Wright would dump curriculum that teaches to the test, to one that targets resources to the poor with some use of vouchers. As for energy costs, the cost isn't as big a problem as reliability, while the health care insurance system needs to be totally revamped.

In this election year with the governor's office on the line, Democratic candidate John DeStefano Jr. laid the lackluster growth and shortcomings in education, high electric rates and transportation gridlock to lack of leadership by GOP Gov. M. Jodi Rell.

He blasted her for failing to network with other New England governors, for a decrease in higher education funding, despite the return it generates, while investing instead in luxury towers in Hartford and bringing a sporting goods store to East Hartford.

Michael Fedele, GOP candidate for lieutenant governor, defended Rell for moving in the right direction and paying as she goes, while he blamed increasing poverty and unemployment in New Haven on DeStefano, the Elm City's mayor for 13 years, and said elimination of the car tax would have helped property tax reform.

Mary Glassman, Democratic lieutenant governor candidate, said the fact that Rell was not at the discussion Wednesday, held at Northeast Utilities headquarters, to answer for her record "is a pattern with the governor. She does not ask these questions as to why the state is not doing better."